Homily II on the Holy Pascha · §1 · Hesychius of Jerusalem

The Trumpet and the Tomb

A sacred and royal trumpet has gathered this spiritual assembly for us: a trumpet that Bethlehem filled and Zion tempered in fire, on which the Cross was the hammer and the Resurrection the anvil. I do not know how to tell its beauty, how to describe its light, how to make known the joy within it, how to recount the kingdom within it. With what hand shall I touch it?

With what words shall I greet a tomb that gives birth to life, a grave free of corruption that yet brings about incorruption, a bridal chamber that laid the bridegroom to sleep for three days, a bridal room that raised the bride incorrupt after the marriage? The guarded tomb declares him dead, and the quaking earth declares him God. For his body cries out that he is dead, but the miracle that he is God; the burial, that he is dead, the resurrection, that he is God; the tears of the women, that he is dead, and the words of the angels, that he is God. Joseph buried him as one dead, but he who was buried as a man…

Greek

Homilia ii in sanctum pascha (homilia 4) (e cod. Sinaitico gr. 492) Τοῦ αὐτοῦ, εἰς τὸ ἅγιον πάσχα 1 Σάλπιγξ ἡμῖν ἱερὰ καὶ βασιλικὴ τὸ πνευματικὸν τοῦτο συνεκρότησεν θέατρον, σάλπιγξ ἣν ἐπλήρωσεν Βηθλεὲμ καὶ ἡ Σιὼν ἐπύρωσεν, ἐν ᾗ ὁ Σταυρὸς σφῦρα καὶ ἄκμων ἡ Ἀνάστασις. Ἧς οὐκ οἶδα πῶς ἐξείπω τὸ κάλλος, πῶς ἐκφράσω τὸ φῶς, πῶς μηνύσω τὴν ἐν αὐτῷ χαράν, πῶς τὴν ἐν αὐτῇ βασιλείαν διηγήσωμαι. Ποίᾳ δὲ αὐτὴν ψηλαφήσω χειρί; 2 Ποίοις λόγοις ἀσπάσομαι τάφον γεννῶντα ζωήν, μνῆμα φθορᾶς <μὲν> ἐλεύθερον, ἀφθαρσίας δὲ πρόξενον, παστάδα τριή μερον τὸν νυμφίον κοιμήσασαν, νυμφῶνα τὴν νύμφην ἄφθορον μετὰ γάμον ἐγείραντα; Νεκρὸν ἡ θήκη φυλαττομένη καὶ θεὸν ἡ γῆ σαλευομένη· νεκρὸν μὲν γὰρ αὐτὸν τὸ σῶμα βοᾷ, τὸ δὲ θαῦμα θεόν· νεκρὸν ἡ ταφή, θεὸν ἡ ἀνάστασις· νεκρὸν τῶν γυναικῶν καὶ τὰ δάκρυα, καὶ θεὸν τῶν ἀγγέλων τὰ ῥήματα. Ὡς νεκρὸν αὐτὸν Ἰωσὴφ ἐκήδευσεν, ἀλλ' ὁ κηδευθεὶς ὡς

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About this text

Hesychius of Jerusalem’s second homily on the holy Pascha, on the empty tomb and the risen Christ, in a fresh English translation from the Greek.

Hesychius of Jerusalem (fl. c. 412–450) preached this second homily on the holy Pascha. It is translated whole, from the opening to the closing doxology.

A sacred and royal trumpet, which Bethlehem filled and Zion tempered in fire, gathers the hearers. The tomb is a bridal chamber where the bridegroom slept for three days and from which the bride was raised incorrupt. The soldiers guard him as one dead, and the gatekeepers of Hades see him as God and cower.

He is the same one, not one and another. The Word made flesh is one, and it is not right for the Word to be separated from the flesh. The angels tell the women that the Nazarene who was crucified is not here, for he has risen. Hosea foretells the third day, and Isaiah's "Now I will arise" is the Lord's own word about his rising. The homily ends with glory to the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

A fresh English translation made from the Greek text printed in PG 93.

Printed text used

Translated from PG 93 (Greek)

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